More Than a Star
by Finclaw
Summary: Quinn finds a some-what broken Rachel under a piano in the chorus room after a Cheerio's practice. Quinn learns that Rachel isn't a perfect human being like others thing. She gets personal with Rachel as they exchange compliments to each other, giving each other hope to get out of Lima one day. One shot wonder. Just some Faberry fluff.


_This was a suddenly inspired one hit wonder I thought of while driving. I had to get it to words immediately. I hoped the story warmed your hearts as deep as mine. Reviews and favorites are more than welcomed. They make me feel like more than a star. All content belongs to GLEE. _

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Quinn had just gotten done with cheer leading practice. She was changing from her uniform to her comfy clothes. She was the only one left in the locker room because she had stayed late arguing with Sue about the routine.  
The blonde was just about to slip on a shirt when she realized that she left her purse in the Glee room earlier. Since it was getting later, she was afraid it would lock. Normally, it wouldn't have mattered because she only carried around a purse because that's what the past cheer captains did. So it just grew on as habit. As much as Quinn liked to think she knew all about the most popular girl in school, she didn't actually know a lot about the lore behind the legendary pretty girl. She just went with it.  
But anyway, any other time she would have left the purse there, but today she thought she could make the purse useful and put money her mom had given her to buy something for dinner later. So she hurried up and grabbed a random shirt out of her gym locker and started running to the Glee room.  
By the time she reached the room, her shirt was only partially on. Believe it or not, its hard to run with a shirt covering up your face as you put it on.  
She reached for the doorknob handle it and slid the shirt around her neck. Luckily it was open still. The janitors must be saving this room to watch t.v. in last, or clean.  
Quinn didn't pay much attention to the surroundings of the room, she walked straight to the shirt she had sat in earlier and grabbed her purse. But before she could grab it, she heard a whimpering somewhere. She slowly turned around and saw a wild Rachel Berry huddled up underneath the piano.  
"Berry?" Quinn asked, wondering what the hell Rachel was doing under the piano.  
"Quinn," Rachel looked up and was taken aback by the sight of Quinn half dressed, "You don't have a shirt on."  
"Haven't you ever been in a locker room before?" Quinn rolled her eyes and put the shirt on the rest of the way.  
Rachel put her head down and started to sob, "No."  
Quinn was even more startled. Sure, she'd been mean to Rachel in the past, but asking her if she had ever been to a locker room to imply that she was a loser, wasn't the worse she had ever done.  
She looked around the room to see if anybody was around, then ducked down to Rachel's height, "Uh, Berry, is something wrong?" She could have threw in a joke about the solo not going her way, but she decided Rachel was already upset enough.  
Rachel shook her head.  
"Well, obviously something is, or you wouldn't be under the piano, crying."  
Rachel shook her head again, "Please don't concern yourself with me."  
"Rachel," Quinn finally said, "What's up? Ogre do something stupid?"  
Rachel lifted her head up and looked at Quinn and her face slightly lit up, "Quinn! You're wearing the Glee shirt!"  
She looked down and noticed that the shirt she had mindlessly grabbed. It was the Glee Club shirt Rachel insisted on getting so they could be more of a team. Quinn, thought it was incredibly stupid and threw it in her gym locker the moment she received it. She supposed she could have thrown it away, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to do that.  
"Yes," Quinn said quickly, trying to disregard the fact that she had on the shirt, "Now why are you under the piano? Was it because of boy wonder?"  
Rachel nodded, :"Sort of. Earlier today I tried to tell him that if he wanted to keep his space of being McKinley's quarterback he needed to stop cutting workouts short to hang out with me, because it was showing in his performance. "  
"Oh?" Quinn said, unsure how this lead to her location.  
"Well, he did not appreciate my constructive criticism and told me that if I ever wanted to be a broadway star, I shouldn't have skipped that one voice class last week to go to breadstix with him."  
Oh Jesus, Quinn thought. He should know better not to insult her voice or her future. Quinn and Rachel weren't even that close and she knew that. "Did this just happened?" Quinn asked.  
"No. It happened Monday. So I started working on a new song and couldn't get it right. I've been working on it every day this week and today I tried again, and I just can't do it!" Rachel was worked up by now, "So I started crying under the piano."  
Quinn wasn't sure what to do. She wanted to hug Rachel, but wasn't sure if that'd be overstepping the lines. She never was very nice to her and she definitely wouldn't want somebody touching her that was awful to her.  
So Quinn said the only thing that came to mind, "Would you like a tissue?" She looked around the room for a box. Mr. Schu never seemed to keep enough supplies in his room.  
Rachel nodded, "There's some in my purse." She pointed to the bag on the floor beside her.  
The blonde unzipped the purse and started to search for the tissues, which wasn't very hard. Since it was Rachel Berry's purse, it was very organized. But that made the glass pipe and little baggie stick out even more. Quinn slowly pulled it out, shocked that it was in Rachel's bag.  
"Rachel," she looked at the brunette huddled up on the floor, "Why do you have this?" She indicated the pipe and bag in her hand.  
Rachel started crying again, "I didn't smoke it I swear!"  
"Where did you get this? Did Puck give you this?" Quinn asked, still confused why it was in her purse. She knew Finn never liked to smoke much, so it wasn't his. She never pinpointed Rachel as a stoner, so she didn't think it was hers. She had been noticing Puck and Rachel conversing occasional, and he was the most valid option.  
"No," Rachel sniffled, "But I did ask Noah where I could purchase it. He told me to ask one of the scary kids that sit outside during lunch and always have their iPods in and look like they don't ever shower. I asked him if he could just do it if I gave him the money, and he told me no because he owed the scary kid 20 dollars. So I offered to pay the scary kid back for him if he never mentioned the conversation we had to anybody."  
Quinn was still baffled, she was still holding the contents in her hand, "Why is it in your bag? Its one thing to grow a pair of ovaries and buy it, but to bring it in the school? You must be feeling bad ass lately?"  
"Because last night I drove out to a clearing I use to go to when I was little and put on shows for the bunnies," Quinn rolled her eyes, not putting it past Rachel that this might have been last year, "I had ever intentions to smoke it, but I couldn't bring myself to harm my precious lungs even if they are good for nothing."  
"And why did you feel the need to smoke marijuana, again?" Quinn asked.  
"Because, if I'm going to be a broadway star I need to start preparing for the future which might result in failure. So I'm going to have to be a pot-smoking hipster that sits in coffee shops all day writing indie poems and songs. If you look again, you can see I've already started practicing, without the substance. But I thought I needed to start now so I could get ready for it once it comes," Rachel looked down the entire time. But Quinn could tell she was being completely serious. It hard to picture a Rachel Berry sitting in a car with a pipe and lighter in her hand, thinking about whether to smoking it or not.  
Quinn shook the imagine from her head, "First off, Rachel Berry, you do not need drugs to be successful. And second of all," She indicated the pipe and bag again, "I will be lecturing Puck about this and he will be paying you that 20 dollars." She put the content in her hand in her purse. She had no intentions of smoking it, but to throw the stuff away. Or maybe sell it, she could use some spare cash. Once upon a time, Puck had her try some he had lying around, and it wasn't her favorite thing ever. She had done it again very few times, and she knew it was something Rachel didn't need. And Puck had supposedly hadn't smoked in a while because he was on probation.  
"And lastly," Quinn said, "Don't listen to the freak. He doesn't know anything about talent. Rachel, he just throws a ball around and waits for somebody to tell him to go to their college. He knew nothing about singing until she dated him. He doesn't know that you truly have what it takes to be a star someday."  
Rachel looked in Quinn's eyes, and Quinn hoped they were sincere, because she was being honest with Rachel, "How would you know what talent is?"  
"Please, I've been to plenty of cheerleading competitions, even if they're just doing flips with their bodies, I know you have more talent than any of the top 40 stars today." Quinn's hand somehow landed on Rachel's knee, in which she gently squeezed it, "Can you do me a favor?"  
"Sure," Rachel sniffled.  
"Don't ever let somebody get in the way of your future, Rachel. Out of all the people that go to this school, you don't let anybody else affect your daily lifestyle. You're completely you and that's going to be your key for success," Quinn told her, truthfully.  
Rachel just looked at Quinn for a few moments. She was probably just as baffled as Quinn onto why she was being so nice to her. Something inside her made her want to tell Rachel how wonderful she thought she was. Something inside told her that even that strongest people like Rachel, can't be superhumans and block out the world.  
"Thanks, Quinn," Rachel said back, glancing at the floor, "You know, Quinn, you're a lot more than a popular pretty blonde."  
"I never said I wasn't," Quinn said.  
"You implied it. And, Quinn, you're so talented and pretty. You could be popular without trying as hard as you do," Rachel told her.  
"Who says I try?" Quinn tried to act like she didn't know what Rachel was talking about.  
"Because of small moments like this and you take down your guard, or I don't know, don't have enough energy to put up the facade, and I see you, Quinn. And you're a flawless human being," Rachel told her.  
That was the nicest thing anybody had ever told Quinn but Quinn didn't know how to respond to such a genuine compliment, "Thanks, Rachel." She said simply and avoided eye contact with Rachel by looking at the floor. But Rachel surprised her with a hug.  
At first she wanted to reject the hug, but having the sensation of somebody who actually cares about you wrapped around your body, made her feel better than she had ever felt before while hugging somebody. She let go of the hug and Rachel broke the silence.  
"I hope you're not going to use that, Quinn," she nodded towards her purse where the drugs were now, "I don't mean to judge, but as a girl who just had a baby..." Quinn put her hand up to stop her and couldn't help but laugh.  
"I'm not going to smoke it," she promised. Rachel smiled. "Hey," Quinn said, "I'm starving. Do you maybe want to grab a bite to eat?" She asked, thinking more time with Rachel Berry might be a good thing.  
Rachel nodded, "That would be lovely, Quinn." Quinn stood up and helped Rachel up. Before they left, Rachel asked Quinn one more question.  
"Quinn, we're friends, right?" She asked.  
Quinn looked at the brunette, noticing the brilliant features of Rachel Berry, "Yeah. We're friends, Rachel." She looped her arm around Rachel's and giggled as they left the chorus room.


End file.
